Mets “Core Four?” Never Happened

When the Mets signed Jason Bay prior to the 2010 season, they envisioned a powerhouse lineup that would propel the team to great heights over at least the following two seasons, lead by the “core four” of Bay, Jose Reyes, David Wright and Carlos Beltran. Now that Beltran is gone, it is interesting to take a look back and see how remarkably little time these four players spent on the field at the same time.

They spent so little time on the field together, I could not find a photo of the four of them. This was the closest I could find. (Not pictured: Jason Bay)

Beltran, of course, missed the first half of 2010 recovering from knee surgery, making it back after the All-Star break on July 15. However, Reyes missed the first four games after the break recovering from his oblique injury. They finally appeared on the field together for the first time on July 19.

But on July 25, Bay famously had a run-in with the left field wall in Dodger Stadium, suffering a concussion that ended his season. So out of a possible 162 games in 2010, the quartet appeared in a stunning six games together.

Moving now to 2011, Bay missed the start of the season with the injury of choice lately — oblique. He returned to the lineup on April 21. The four players managed to get 22 games in together before Wright went down with a fractured back.

Wright came back on July 22, but of course Bay missed the first game with a slight hamstring problem. He was back the next day, with the group putting together four more games before Beltran was sent packing. The total games played together for 2011 was 25.

So let’s recap — the Mets were expecting as many as 324 games with a lineup including Bay, Reyes, Wright and Beltran. They only played together for 31. Truly, truly amazing.